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Keep pedalling

Posted May 27, 2011

Hubby told me that he burned 1000 calories on his last cycle ride. He revealed this just as we were both about to tuck into our dinner. Maths wasn’t my strong point at school (I scored marginally higher than dunce) but even I could work this equation out.

Dinner – cycle ride = 0 calories.

So last weekend I legged it to the local bike shop faster than a whippet chasing a hare. And I’m now the proud owner of a new road bike (black, white and red, as you’re asking) with matching helmet.

You can’t just walk in and pick a bike ‘off the peg’. No, this is serious business. For starters, it has to be the right frame size for your height. Then the saddle has to be adjusted to suit your inner leg length. Who knew?

The first stab at setting the saddle height didn’t go too well. I was perched so high that I couldn’t put one foot on the floor to stabilise myself as I got off. I didn’t so much dismount as keel over and land in a heap amongst the other bikes for sale. The sales assistant suggested I may want to practice off road first and helpfully gave me the directions to a disused air field.

When I turned up on Sunday, there was just me and one other novice cyclist ... and he was six. “That’s it, you’re doing well. Remember to keep pedalling. KEEP PEDALLING. Oh dear!” The little kid came a cropper despite these words of encouragement from his gran. Is it wrong that I felt smug in a “watch and learn, son!” kind of way as I speedily pedalled past the sobbing child. Hah! At least I know how to keep the bike moving.

The next step for me is to venture on to a BIG road and try to negotiate the traffic and potholes. There might be a slight problem with that: I haven’t yet learnt how to steer using drop handlebars. I wonder how long I can go without turning a corner or coming to a stop?